Co-founded by Mike Perry, Dirty Boxing Championship is here to stay – or so it seems, after a thunderous knockout of former UFC star Yoel Romero left jaws dropping at their debut event Saturday evening in Florida.

The first Dirty Boxing card took place behind closed doors with a private audience watching the fights under broom closet lighting, the setting reminiscent of something you’d see in a video game.

The first version of Dirty Boxing wasn’t broadcast live for everyone to see, but we got a glimpse of the action: a new approach to fighting with custom rules: no grappling, no kicking , no submission. Punches, open palm strikes, and elbows are allowed, as well as grounding and pounding to finish the fight whenever you have an opponent down.

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Romero wouldn’t need follow-up shots for his first fight against a relatively unknown Duane Crespo – a 6-2 fighter over Dana’s White. Power Slap nicknamed “The Iron Giant”. Crespo is 0-2 as an MMA pro, falling to 0-1 in Dirty Boxing after a monstrous combo from Romero sat him down.

Weighing 234.5 pounds, this was Romero’s first fight at heavyweight, competing for the second time this year after the multiple title challenger defeated Thiago Santos at the PFL vs. Bellator event in February.

Age seems to be just a number for Romero, who at 47 years old is still in great shape with his knockout power well intact to this day. For years, “The Soldier of God” was feared in the UFC middleweight division, narrowly missing out on gold against then-champions Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.

Romero has scored knockout victories over former UFC champions Lyoto Machida, Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman.

Watch more highlights from the first-ever Dirty Boxing Championship event below.

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